My Valentine
by Clayton Overstreet
Summary: Some people from Joey's past are back. One wishes him well... the other not so much.


I don't own these characters or profit from them. I do however have several books available from Amazon that you may enjoy like "Harlequin: A Fool's World Novel".

My Valentine

By, Clayton Overstreet

Revenge may have been a dish best served cold, but in Bandit Keith's case it was practically growing mold. It had been a couple of years since little Yugi and his friends had so completely humiliated the former professional duelist and a much shorter time since Keith was mind controlled by those weirdo freaks to go after them before being sent to the shadow realm only to be brought back out and left in a coma.

Since then Yugi had won the battle City championship, had done something with Kaiba that made people think real Duel Monsters had attacked the world, and then faced off with some other weird cult in front of the whole world while Kaiba tested out his new duel disc over a couple pieces of the millennium puzzle. They had graduated high school and each had taken up their own lives out in the world.

Keith had woken up and after his rehab had decided to get some revenge. He was not certain what had happened, but he knew magic and Yugi had been involved. The only problem was, the kid obviously had some weird freaky magic of his own and Keith did not want to face that again, so he decided to take out one of the kid's friends. He considered Tea but soon found she had left the country for some dance school and Tristan spent most of his days working in his father's factory, working low level jobs while daddy groomed him to take over. Too easy. Kaiba and Pegasus had security and tended to be hard to reach at best.

That left Joey Wheeler. That punk had been a thorn in Keith's side since defeating him in Duelist Kingdom. Joey was also starting a career as a professional duelist and was actually doing pretty good. He was no King of Games, but had been trained by Yugi and his grandfather. He was the brat's best friend.

Keith had wanted to make it a new team building exercise. He liked working with others. Minions to do his bidding and canon fodder if needed. Getting them to help with a murder was a good way to bind hem together and make sure nobody squealed. Unfortunately that had not gone well. He had kept his plans low key, saying he wanted revenge on Wheeler, but nobody wanted to take him up on it, though he hit all the people who should have hated the kid.

Rex and Weevil had turned him down flat. Something about "We may not be the best, but we're trying to rebuild out reputations as great duelists. Also every time we mess with them we get our souls ripped out of our bodies and trapped in cards." They had apparently gotten some pretty rare cards though and had suggested he ask Mai Valentine and some guy named Valen. Both had beaten the shit out of him before he left their places.

"You'd think they'd want a piece of the punk." He muttered as he took aim through the scope of his hunting rifle. He had snuck it into Japan in pieces inside a golf bag. Stupid anti-gun laws. This would have been so much easier back home in America. Now he had it reassembled and was lining up his shot from the copper skeleton of a half finished office building.

Joey was down in a stadium in a local duel contest. Nothing big, but it had his attention. With that kid's luck Keith wanted his full attention on something else. He had just summoned his Red Eyes Black Dragon. Keith gritted his teeth. That was way too much card for that loser. He regretted he was not close enough to actually steal the punk's deck. Oh well, his cards were probably going to be covered in blood anyway.

Unfortunately for Keith, his attention was on lining Joey up perfectly in the sights so he missed the blur swinging through rafters to his side to plant a pointed heel in his face. He barely had time to cry out before being knocked from his perch and falling. A moment later his ankle was caught by a tight wire and he was left hanging helplessly in the air. "Ah! What the—?"

"Sorry chump," said a voice above him, but whoever it was did not stick around to gloat. He tried to pull himself up, but could not. It felt like his circulation was being cut off and his head was still swimming from the initial hit. Down below his gun had hit the ground and someone had already called the cops. If he was very lucky they would reach him before the wire killed his foot permanently.

000

Joey walked out of the stadium with a small trophy and a check in his pocket. He stood in the sunlight and took a deep breath. Then he smiled and said, "Long time no see."

Mai stepped away from the doorway behind him. "How did you know it was me?"  
"Like I'd ever forget the smell of your perfume?" Joey said. Mai blushed a little and looked away. "So how ya been Mai?"

She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Just trying to find myself. It took a while. You and Yugi do anything interesting?"

"Oh you know; the usual. Fought a few bad guys with magic powers, saved the world a few times."

Mai smiled. "I believe it."

"What brings you back to Domino City Mai?" Joey asked.

"Oh you know; the usual. Some jerk was trying to kill a doofus I owed my life to and I stopped him." She nodded across the street and Joey looked to where the fire department was raising up a ladder.

"Is that Bandit Keith?"

"Sure was."

"Mai, you save my…"

"Don't even start, Wheeler." She snapped. "We both know I owed you. I suppose I still owe you."

Joey shook his head. "Mai that ain't how it works. Friends don't owe friends. You see them in trouble and you help out. Nobody owes anybody for that. I never doubted for a minute that if something like that happened you'd step in, no questions asked. Just like I'd step in front of a bus if it meant keeping you safe." He laughed. "If I didn't I think my sister would kill me. Serenity really admires you, ya know?"

Mai looked down again. "Jeez Joey, do you have to give a speech like that every time we see each other? Friendship. Loyalty. Forgiveness. That sort of thing has gotten you into more trouble…"

"Trouble is my middle name," Joey said. "Sometimes it seems like that's the only way I meet the people I care about." He smiled. "So Mai what are you doing now that you've saved my life?"

She shrugged. "Didn't really have any plans."

"Well I just won a cash prize. How about we get something to eat? We can get a couple of burgers or split a pizza." He paused. "Come to think of it, you and I have only ever eaten together when we were splitting granola bars in the woods or when we've been at some big expensive mansion owned by some guy plotting against us. Might be nice to split the difference."

She stared at him and then nodded. "Sure, I could eat." They started walking. "by the way Joey, speaking of your sister, there's something I always wondered. Why do you have that weird accent, but she doesn't?"

"Mom sent her to boarding school," he said.

"Ah. Well I also kind of wondered why your parents keep letting you, Tea, Yugi, and Tristan run around doing all this dangerous stuff."

"I'm not sure either. We haven't seen them since they all came over to Yugi's house to play bridge. One of Yugi's cards was mixed in the deck and there was a weird black cloud… Yugi's grandfather is pretty sure they'll reappear any month now."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Little bit."

"Jerk." She punched him in the arm.

000

After lunch Joey and Mai were walking down the street. "You sure you had enough?"

"Watching you eat kind of killed my appetite," she said. She looked a little queasy. "There is something I'd like to do though."

"What's that?" She stopped and turned to face him. Then she extended her left arm and her duel disc activated. Joey grinned, burped a little, and did the same. "You sure you're up for this Mai? Hate to poke a wound, but if I beat you and you just take off again, I'm not sure I could take that."

She sneered. "I'm not going anywhere Wheeler. Yeah, you might beat me, but that just means I have to try harder next time."

Joey blinked. "Well that's new. Usually you're talking about how I just get lucky and yer plans to stomp me into the ground."

"What would be the point of that?" She asked. "If I got beat by some lucky chump, what would that make me? There's no shame in getting beaten by a great duelist." She grinned. "I hope you remember that when I stomp you into the ground."

Joey laughed and slapped his cards into place. "Try it. Ladies first Mai."

"Well in that case, let me get my ladies on the field. I summon Harpy Lady in attack mode. Not only that but I play Elegant Egotist and add a second."

Joey smirked. "Surprise, surprise. Well in that case I play Tribe Infecting Virus in attack mode. Then I sacrifice a card from my hand and use it's special ability, which is to wipe out any one type of monster on the field. I choose Winged Beasts of course, wiping out both your harpies." The two monsters began to turn green and shrivel up, coughing and hacking before disintegrating. "Then I attack! Doing 1600 points of damage and leaving you with only 2400. Finally I lay two cards face down and end my turn."

Mai gritted her teeth. Drawing a card she smiled. "Not bad Joey, but I've upgraded my deck too. I sacrifice three cards from my hand. One with eight levels, one with five, and another with three. To summon Montage Dragon!" A three headed dragon appeared. "This monster gets three hundred attack points for each star the monsters that were sacrificed to summon it had. That means it's got 4800!"

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes! Montage dragon, destroy his virus!" The monster rose up and blasted Joey's card with a blinding flash, causing him to move back and deducting 3200 from his counter, leaving him with only 800. "Well this seems like it was over before it began."

"Maybe Mai," Joey admitted. Then he smiled. "I play Copycat."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes!" A monster appeared and when they did its attack points rose to match Montage Dragon's. "Not only that, but I also activate my A Rival Appears trap card, letting me summon a monster with the same level as yours from my hand. I summon Dragon Core Hexer." A female monster that looked like a combination of a woman knight and a dragon appeared. She had 2300 attack points and 3000 defense and was listed as a dragon type. "You know Mai this card reminds me of you. She fought for a long time to become the best dragon slayer around and every time she beat an opponent the dragon's blood would get on her and make her stronger, but her transformation frightened people and she was not welcome in most of the villages. It took so long she even forgot why she was fighting so hard in the first place. Personally though, I find her a good friend under that scaly exterior and think she's got a lot to offer." Mai smiled at that, despite what Joey said next.

"Copycat, destroy her dragon!" The card attacked and both cards were destroyed. "Now Dragon Core Hexer, attack her directly!" The knight moved forward and slashed at Mai, the holographic sword passing through her and cutting her points down to 100. Then she moved back and stood in front of Joey.

Mai smirked and said, "Not bad Joey." She drew a card and placed it on the field. "I put one card in defense position and end my turn. Coincidentally this card reminds me of you too."

"Can't wait to see what that is. Better luck next time Mai. First I put Kotodama on the field, just incase you try to summon any more harpies. He doesn't have any attack points, but his special ability means that if you special summon more than one of any card, they'll all be destroyed. So I don't have to worry about a flock of harpies appearing on the field to protect you." Mai frowned. He played another trap card. "Next I activate Dragon's Rage, which means that if a dragon type attacks a defense monster, you take the damage. Not many monsters you can summon without sacrifice have a 2300 defense. With only one hundred life points I'm betting that whatever the difference is, you're done. Attack!" His monster jumped forward and slashed the card that had appeared on the field. It exploded revealing a robotic dog. Joey glared at Mai, "Hey, are you calling me some kind of a dueling dog?"

"Not at all," Mai said, as her last life points faded away with a small blip. "Mecha-Dog Marron reminds me of you because he's loyal and he's a bit of a gamble. See if you'd used a trap, spell, or special effect to destroy him, you would have taken 1000 points of damage and I would have won the duel. But as I expected, your luck was with you and you destroyed him in battle. Do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"We both take 1000 points of damage." Joey startled and looked down to see his last 800 points disappear. "It's a draw."

Joey looked up at her. "So you're saying the best I could have done was tie."

She walked over. "I personally would have preferred to win, but at least I didn't lose." She looked into his eyes. "I just wish I had felt that way when…"

Joey reached out and took her hand. "Mai, you got played. I knew from the start what was going on with Darts and his guys and that wasn't really you in there. Maybe you didn't hear, but he killed people's families, he sent them on quests for revenge against people who didn't even deserve it, and it turned out that he was being controlled too. He'd been messin' with people for 10,000 years. Even the pharaoh fell for it. So that you let him play with your head isn't exactly a surprise." He looked into her eyes. "But you're free now, and you know that all that garbage he was feeding you was playing on your fears and not real, right?"

"Yeah, I know. But it wasn't all him you know."

"Mai, did we ever tell you how Yugi and I met? It was in some episodes they never aired in English. I was a bully. I stole his puzzle and threw it away. All the same Yugi stood up for me when I was getting my butt kicked too. You think that doesn't haunt me? All the same Yugi is my best friend now." He smiled. "You're a gorgeous intelligent woman Mai. Nobody is perfect. We all got our doubts, but you have come a long way from the girl I met on Pegasus' island. You were out for nothing but money and cheating with scented cards to make me thing you were psychic.

"The Mai I know now would have taken that girl's lunch money and sent her crying back home at the end of a real duel."

Mai laughed. "Yeah I would. And you're right. I'm not the same as I was back then and it's because of you and the rest of our… friends. Win or lose, the best times of my life have been because I met all of you and I've come out better than before each time. Especially you. You're goofy, you rely on luck more than skill, and frankly you can be one of the most infuriating people I've ever met… but I honestly don't think I'd be who I am if it weren't for you."

Joey laughed and stepped back, scratching his nose. "Well I'd like to take the credit, but you know me. Can never resist a damsel in distress." He looked up at the sky. "And of course now that I'm a professional duelist I'm probably going to have all kinds of girls beating down my door. I'm glad I could help but pretty soon you'll be lost in the crowd…"

Mai stepped forward and slipped one arm around his. Then she used her free hand to pinch his face, squeezing his cheeks painfully together. "Get this straight right now Joey Wheeler. If you so much as look at another girl romantically, I will personally break off the heel of one of my designer boots in your skull, understood?"

"Yeff ma'am."

She let him go and smiled. "Good." He was surprised when she leaned up and kissed him on the lips, but closed his eyes and kissed her back after only a moment.

"One thing though," he said when they finally broke apart. "Do you want to keep your last name or not?"

Mai smiled and said, "Oh I'm changing it. Do you know how long I've been putting up with the jokes about Mai Valentine? Mai Wheeler has a nice ring to it and should help me be taken a bit more seriously, don't you think?"

"I think so. Not that anyone would be stupid enough to mess with you with me around."

Mai laughed and they started walking. "I know, you're the original tough guy. Though I have to admit that you've got a good rep. Saved the world, came in near the top of some of the biggest duels in the world… okay so Yugi's slightly better, but it's been pretty close a couple times and he's taken by Tea and way too short for me."

"Hey don't forget your good qualities just because I'm awesome. Not only are you possibly the most beautiful woman in the world, you're a certified motorcycle riding badass, you just saved my life, and you came in near the top in those same duels. You even took on a 10,000 year old psychopath just fer me. I can't speak for everyone but my sister really looks up to you and so do I."

"So what now?"

"I was going to head over to Yugi's card shop this afternoon. Want to tag along? There's a partners duel next month and we could team up. In the meantime he and Grandpa Moto could probably help you work on your deck. We can give them the good news and pick through the store."

"Sounds like fun. What good news exactly?" She smiled at him.

"Oh don't make me say it." He held up his trophy "That I won the tournament of course! I'm way too humble a guy to brag, but—oof!" Mai had elbowed him in the ribs.

Letting him go she walked over to her bike and put on her helmet. "Get on the back before I change my mind, jerk."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say sweetheart," he gasped, though he was still grinning. He got on behind her and said in her ear. "Just for the record though, I think your kiss knocked the wind out of me more than your hit."

"You aren't sure? I'll have to try harder next time," she said.

"I can't wait. Hold on… which oneaaaaah!" Mai revved the engine and took off.

Author's Note (Spoiler Alert!)

This was really the one loose end they left, even after the new Dark Side of the Dimensions movie. Kaiba got his duel with the pharaoh in the afterlife via his pod thingy (I think we all know Atem once again kicked his ass as he has and will in every reincarnation). Yugi has his grandfather's card shop and I'm sure he and Tea made the long distance relationship work after she became a professional dancer. Tristan is working at his dad's factory and will probably run it eventually. Joey becomes a professional duelist. Rebecca and Mokuba sort of flirt and could hook up. Seto Kaiba would probably instantly fall in love with Serenity Wheeler if they met and I could so see those two as in-laws. All the other Yugioh series take place in the future so no other mystical enemies manage to destroy the world at least as far as the last series extends in the future until Paradox gets born. So really Mai coming back for Joey is the only question mark and she seemed pretty intent on doing that eventually when we last saw her, after she earned back a bit of forgiveness and self respect. I can kind of imagine Luna in Yugioh 5Ds reading about her in history class when they were studying the world's great female duelists or them making a movie in the future of Mai and Joey's great love story, only while they get her right they cast some big muscular guy as Joey who looks and talks nothing like him.


End file.
